What are we reading?

Let's get this group going folks!
I just finished the anthology Adventures in Time and Space and am thinking of tackling another anthology. Lately they've been my favorites.

I just enjoyed Galactic Derelict by Norton. A quick read and a fun story.

If anyone does BookMooch, my inventory has a 35 cent Ace copy up for grabs.

Working through The Best of C.L. Moore. I recently bought my own copy of this after having read a library copy several years back. Many of the stories were very memorable, esp Shambleau, Black God's Kiss, and Vintage Season. And the cover art for the volume is fantastic.

>3 ogodei: I love Vintage Season. I've often thought it might make a good Twilight Zone episode.

If you can find a copy, "Interplanetary Hunter" by Arthur K. Barnes is a great read and will give you a good idea of what people in 1937 thought that the planets might be like. This book was published by Gnome Press, which (if you are an old guy like me) will tell you something about the science fiction and the readability of the book. Great pics of the alien animals.

If I remember Vintage Season, it was the story about the time travellers who go back and view disasters. There was an early 90's Jeff Daniels movie I saw on cable then called Disaster in Time that I would bet was based on the story.

>6 RBeffa: Thanks. Have to look for that.

I remember Disaster in Time. Good idea, typically messed up by hollyweird.

I found Science Fiction of the 1930s, edited by Damon Knight a couple of months ago at my local Half-Price Bookstore. It also includes an essay with some historic background.

>9 drbottlecapper:

I have that one Science Fiction of the Thirties, and there were also two more that I have in the series edited by others Science Fiction of the Forties, and Science Fiction of the 50's. All three are permanent fixtures in my library and feature a great collection of stories from their respective periods.

Another book I really enjoyed (one of the few I've read more then once) is World of Science Fiction, 1926-1976: The History of a Subculture. The appendix includes a listing of stories from the various periods.

>6 RBeffa: Disaster inTime was indeed based on the story, which was the only reason I watched it. Meh.

Moore states in a footnote that, to the best of her knowledge, Vintage Season was the first "time travelers from the future visit epic events of our era simply as tourists" story. Anyone know of this is true? Or more accurately, if this is not true?

Currently reading An Olaf Stapledon Reader - a selection of excerpts from Stapledon's various fiction and non-fiction writings.

Read and reviewed The Demolished Man. Apart from the ending, which I did not enjoy, the story is excellent - I quite enjoy how Bester disregards all of the cliches of the typical detective story.

"Tensor, said the tensor..."

I'm now working on The Black Star Passes. I'm suprised at how slow going it is so far. I've only gotten through about 30 pages today, it's just not grabbing my attention.

Still working my way through some of Andre Norton's books...now reading The Defiant Agents.

Working through Science Fiction of the 30's. Hopefully it picks up later in the volume.

>16 ogodei: I believe that's the volume that has "Sidewise in Time" , by Murray Leinster. It was one of the first stories that used the idea of alternate histories.

The Leinster story included here is "The Fifth-Dimension Catapult" where a scientist launches himself and his daughter into another dimension. "Sidewise" is from the same period though. Worth tracking down?

Sidewise is the leadoff story in The Best of Murray Leinster so shouldn't be too hard to track down. I used to enjoy his stories but it has been quite a while since I've read them. I had even pulled out that collection recently and added it to my TBR (in this case re-read) pile. I don't remember Fifth-Dimension Catapult tho.

That's right "Sidewise" is in Before the Golden Age: A Science Fiction Anthology of the 1930s. Another great book on 1930 SF fiction.

In that work I also liked "Submicroscopic" by Capt. S.P. Meek. I think that is the story where the protagonist keeps shrinking and entering new worlds. If I recall correctly the story tried to incorporate the "Expanding Universe" theory, which was new then. When fun stories!!

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 8 (1946). The Arthur C. Clarke was a good work to start out the volume with, but I've been bouncing between it and other works.

I just started Riders to the Stars. Not far enough in to know if I really like it.
I'd never heard of it or the movie until I got this book in a set a few months ago.

Finished reading A Canticle For Leibowitz which is an impressive novel, even if some parts of the novel escape me.

Now, on to Foundation which should require no introduction.

Finished Science Fiction of the 30's. Standouts were "The Fifth Dimension Catapult" by Murray Leinster, "Pithecanthropus Rejectus" by Manly Wade Wellman, and maybe "Seeker of Tomorrow" by Eric Frank Russell and Leslie T. Johnson.

The title of "The Fifth Dimension Catapult" pretty much tells the story, and the hero was the stock young, handsome, scientist that inhabited a lot of this collection, but the writing and plotting was fairly tight. Good action piece. I will probably track down a copy of The Best of Murray Leinster based on that and the mentions here.

"Pithecanthropus Rejectus" was about a monkey (chimpanzee?) enhanced to human intelligence and sold into show business by an uncaring scientist. The writing was simply phenomenal. I have only heard of Wellman through his "weird fiction" reprints from Night Shade Books, and though I have a copy of hisGiants from Eternity I admit that I didn't finish. That story was from '39. Has anyone else read his work or have any recommendations for his SF?

"Seeker of Tomorrow" is a time travel story of jumping forward in time through various civilizations. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing, thought it was pretty enjoyable.

Starting The War Against the Rull. I've read some of the short stories this fix-up was made from, so have high hopes for it.

I tried reading Foundation. The ideas were interesting (psychohistory should technically be called sociohistory, but moving on...) but the writing is absolutely awful. The plot of the novel largely consists of someone telling someone else what is happening. Little attention is paid to the setting, none is paid to characterisation. I can't read a book written as badly as that.

Can someone please recommend a good Asimov book (Golden era or newer, I don't care), because I don't want to give up on one Asimov on the basis of one awful book.

Now, for a good Golden-Era book, Stars My Destination. is still an astounding book, and I don't care what it is being compared against.

>26 rojse: rojse In many ways that is Asmov's style. His stories unfold with a conversation.

You might try the I, Robot short story collection, they are my favorite, although I liked Foundation. Give it a try and see what you think.

#27

I read I, Robot in my teens and did enjoy it - not great, but not bad, either. I might give that another go and see what I think reading it as an adult.

One of Asimov's best early works was "Caves of Steel." Off subject (sorry), the first part of his autobiography, "In Memory, Yet Green," is a great read.

>29 morriss003: I enjoyed Caves of Steel too, and also the Naked Sun. Both were another interesting set of Robot Stories.

Asimov's two volume autobiography, In Memory, Yet Green and In Joy Still Felt also give a very interesting history of Science Fiction too.

Working through The Best of John W. Campbell I found browsing through a second hand shop. So far the stories he published as Don A. Stuart are excellent.

I also read Immortality, Inc. by Robert Sheckley (published in 1959 so I guess it falls into this group) but I wasn't very impressed by it. The book deals interesting concepts about the afterlife (What if we could prove it exists? What if everyone got there, no matter what they did? What if you had buy your way there?) but it consists of a series of "as you know Bob" lectures punctuated by short bursts of action. The writing just hasn't aged well.

I'm finding The Moon is a Harsh Mistress not at all dated, with one exception perhaps being the communications technology. I perceive influences from this novel in places as far flung as Somni~451's voice and behaviors in David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.

I have a lot of fun looking backward!

There is a third Asimov autobiography, I, Asimov.

I've all three at least one of them signed. Asimov not only lived across the street where I worked in NY, but a former girlfriend was featured in his mystery, Murder at the ABA.

Talk about reviving a dead thread!

I would like to see more posts in this group. I mentioned in the regular SF fans group that I found my old copy of Heinlein's Red Planet (from 1949). Despite being a juvenile I am enjoying it a lot, and it is a lot of fun. A very good boy's adventure story. Just have a few pages left to go. I have not been reading much early SF recently but this one has rekindled my interest a bit.

Early SF is almost the only kind I like, from the 20s pulps through the 50s. I haven't been able to manage any real interest in the modern SF I've read in recent years.

>35 RBeffa: I have never gone through Red Planet, I will have to check it out.

>36 dukeallen: Any particular titles you might suggest?

I have been reading more 60s' and 70s' sf works lately. I think the only stuff earlier than that was some early (very) Zelazny and some Fritz Leiber shorts. I always forget how long ago Leiber started writing. I find most of his stuff has aged extremely well, possibly because it was never straight-out "hard" stuff.

I like anything from Van Vogt, Ace doubles, just about any author published in Astounding SF...I just finished The Illustrated Man, and would definitely recommend that. And any of the various short story anthologies that were prevalent way back when.
I'm more about fun and nostalgia than any consideration of how well it aged or how they'd compare to current fare.

#37 from The Golden Age (1932) recently finished DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE, great sci-fi/sorcery from the popular pulp writer A. Merrit on Project Gutenberg Australia. Same sort of stuff, but better, from Heinlein in the early 60's, GLORY ROAD--not to be missed.

I just grabbed The Best Science Fiction Stories 3rd Series in a lovely 1953 first UK edition from Mount TBR.

Three stories in, we have the usual suspects; Last man alive kept in alien zoo; Time traveller from the future saving the world by making one little change; Eugenics to save the world. All fun stuff!

Just finished GLADIATOR (1930) from the great Philip Wylie, of WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE fame. One of the first supermen stories, it's supposed to be pulp but is far more thoughtful than that. Now reading the early Wells competitor George Griffith's HONEYMOON IN SPACE--starts slow but is supposed to get better.

I just finished Edison's Conquest of Mars. A quickly churned out, unauthorized "sequel" to The War of the Worlds with a lot of the details of the Martians changed. Interesting and had the first appearances of some SF staples.

There are more books that deal with Asimov's Biography in one way or another.
Asimov:The Unauthorized Life Michael White, Conversations with Isaac Asimov Carl Freedman and Yours, Isaac Asimov.
These are not written by him, but are about him.
I still have to read them, but they seem promising and are definitely an easier read (because they are smaller) than the ones Asimov wrote himself.

Halfway through Fritz Lieber's Hugo-winner THE BIG TIME. Only so-so to this point. The one location setting is somewhat claustrophobic. Anyone read it?

About to start Reach for Tomorrow, an early collection by Arthur C. Clarke

Excellent choice!

Reading Triplanetary. If you're a fan of Green Lantern, you should read what spawned it. :)

Halfway through Astounding Stories, February 1931!
Lots of stories by Harry Bates under various pseudonyms. Harry Bates you say, who was he? Well he later wrote a story that was the basis of the 1951 film The Day The Earth Stood Still!

#47
I read Triplanetary a couple of years ago. I did not like it much. But I'm told the other books in the Lensman series are much better.